A known system for ejecting ink to form images on a moving web of media material is shown in FIG. 4. The system 10 includes a web unwinding unit 14, a media preparation station 18, a pre-heater roller 22, a plurality of marking stations 26, a turn roller 30, a leveling roller 34, and a spreader 38. In brief, the web unwinding unit 14 includes an actuator, such as an electrical motor, that rotates a web of media material in a direction that removes media material from the web. The media material is fed through the media preparation station 18 along a path formed by the pre-heater roller 22, turn roller 30, and leveling roller 34 and then through the spreader 38 to a rewinder 40. The media preparation station 18 removes debris and loose particulate matter from the web surface to be printed and the pre-heater roller 22 is heated to a temperature that transfers sufficient heat to the media material for optimal ink reception on the web surface as it passes the marking stations 26. Each of the marking stations 26A, 26B, 26C, and 26D in FIG. 4 includes two staggered full width print head arrays, each of which has three or more print heads that eject ink onto the web surface. The different marking stations eject different colored inks onto the web to form a composite colored image. In one system, the marking stations eject cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink for forming composite colored images. The surface of the web receiving ink does not encounter a roller until it contacts the leveling roller 34. Leveling roller 34 modifies the temperature of the web and reduces any temperature differences between inked and non-inked portions of the web. After the temperature leveling the ink is heated by heater 44 before the printed web enters the spreader 38. The spreader 38 applies pressure to the ejected ink on the surface of the web to smooth the roughly semicircular ink drops on the surface of the web and to encourage ink fill with the different colors and present a more uniform image to a viewer. The web material is then wound around the rewinding unit 40 for movement to another system for further processing of the printed web.
This system 10 also includes two load cells, one of which is mounted at a position near pre-heater roller 22 and the other is mounted at a position near the turn roller 30. These load cells generated signals corresponding to the tension on the web proximate the position of the load cell. Each of the rollers 22, 30, and 34 has an encoder mounted near the surface of the roller. These encoders may be mechanical or electronic devices that measure the angular velocity of a roller monitored by the encoder, which generates a signal corresponding to the angular velocity of the roller. In a known manner, the signal corresponding to the angular velocity measured by an encoder is provided to the controller 60, which converts the angular velocity to a linear web velocity. The linear web velocity may also be adjusted by the controller 60 with reference to the tension measurement signals generated by the load cells. The controller 60 is configured with I/O circuitry, memory, programmed instructions, and other electronic components to implement a double reflex printing system that generates the firing signals for the printheads in the marking stations 26. A double reflex printing process is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/605,735, which issued on Feb. 23, 2010 as U.S. Pat. No. 7,665,817, is entitled “Double Reflex Printing,” and is commonly owned by the assignee of the present document. The term “controller” or “processor” as used in this document refers to a combination of electronic circuitry and software that generates electrical signals that control a portion or all of a process or system.
The system 10 may also include an image-on-web array (IOWA) sensor 68 that generates an image signal of a portion of the web as it passes the IOWA sensor. The IOWA sensor 68 may be implemented with a plurality of optical detectors that are arranged in a single or multiple row array that extends across at least a portion of the web to be printed. The detectors generate signals having an intensity corresponding to a light reflected off the web. The light is generated by a light source that is incorporated in the IOWA sensor and directed toward the web surface to illuminate the surface as it passes the optical detectors of the IOWA sensor. The intensity of the reflected light is dependent upon the amount of light absorbed by the ink on the surface, the light scattered by the web structure, and the light reflected by the ink and web surface. The image signal generated by the IOWA sensor is processed by an integrated registration color controller (IRCC) to detect the presence and position of ink drops ejected onto the surface of the web at the IOWA sensor.
As noted above, the controller 60 uses the tension measurements from the two load cells along with the angular velocity measurements from encoders to compute linear web velocities at the rollers 22, 30, and 34. These linear velocities enable the processor to determine when a web portion printed by one marking station, station 26A, for example, is opposite another marking station, stations 26B, for example, so the second marking station can be operated by the controller 60 with firing signals to eject ink of a different color onto the web in proper registration with the ink already placed on the web by a previous marking station. When the subsequent marking station is operated too soon or too late, the ejected ink lands on the web at positions that may produce visual noise in the image. This effect is known as misregistration. Accurate measurements, therefore, are important in registration of different colored images on the web to produce images with little or no visual noise.